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The Senate budget is the latest battleground for educational oversight.

A section of the 2009 budget released by Senate leaders last night would shift power from Superintendent June Atkinson to an appointee of Gov. Beverly Perdue's.

The two Democrats have been fighting over whether the superintendent of the head of the Board of Education should be in charge of schools. Atkinson has sued over the issue.

The budget sides with Perdue, changing wording in state statutes to put the chief executive officer — Perdue appointee Bill Harrison — in charge of administering state education tests:

(b) The Superintendent of Public Instruction Chief Executive Officer shall be responsible, under policies adopted by the State Board of Education, for the statewide administration of the testing program provided by this Article.

Update: "This proposed change is just another example of why we need the court system to determine the constitutionality of the role of the state superintendent," Atkinson told Dome. "We need that clarity."

Hat Tip: Chris Hayes

Beverly Perdue evaded a question at the debate today.

During a series of brief yes-or-no questions at the education debate on the SAS Institute campus, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate gave a vague and confusing answer when asked if she would support appointing the superintendent of public instruction.

"I've danced this dance before," she said. "The governor is in charge of education in North Carolina."

The answer echoed a response given by state Superintendent June Atkinson, a Democrat running for re-election, who said the governor is in charge back in January when the question arose. But it was not exactly a yes-or-no response.

Later in the debate, she said that voters don't think it matters whether the position is elected or appointed, but the bottom line is that the governor should run education.

At a primary debate in April, Perdue said that the state should have an appointed superintendent, but said it was unlikely that the necessary constitutional amendment would pass, according to this account by the Greensboro News & Record's Mark Binker.

Republican Pat McCrory's position was clear: He thinks the position should be appointed.

State Superintendant of Public Instruction June Atkinson, who is running for re-election, has predicted wins in Guilford, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, and Buncombe Counties.

She said she has spent the night trying to predict the counties she will win. She said she thinks the election will be a closer call in the Northeastern and Southeastern counties in the state.

"It's interesting to see how I will predict," Atkinson said.

Supporters have gathered in a fifth-floor suite at the North Raleigh Hilton on Wake Forest Road, the same hotel where throngs of Perdue supporters have filled the ballroom.

Atkinson said she plans to sleep in tomorrow and attend a farewell dinner for Martin Lancaster, president of the North Carolina Community College System.

Bob Orr says changing the schools superintendent's job is an old idea.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate said that it has been discussed for years in the legislature, and he does not claim to be the first to think of it.

Neither, he argued, should his rival, longtime Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory.

In an interview yesterday, McCrory told Dome that he was glad to see Orr using his idea, which he first mentioned at a debate on WRAL last week.

"I'm very pleased that he incorporated my ideas from the debate into some very viable proposals," he said.

Orr's campaign responsed today.

"Nothing in Orr's proposal originated with Pat McCrory," said campaign manager Dave Woolf. "As a matter of fact, we are waiting for the first original idea to come out of the McCrory campaign."

Two Senate bills and a House bill in 2007 would have made the superintendent an appointed post. None of the bills made it out of committee.

Update: Former Gov. Jim Martin also called for making the position appointed in the 1990s.

Fred Smith says that in an ideal world, the state schools superintendent would be appointed.

But the Republican gubernatorial candidate says that's not likely to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, he thinks the governor has more than enough power to set education policy.

Smith noted that Gov. Mike Easley appointed Howard Lee, the current chairman of the State Board of Education, which sets state policy on schools.

"It's about leadership," he said. "It's about taking the tools you have to get the job done. We've got candidates talking about process and the constitution. That's just political talk. A leader grabs hold and gets the job done."

He pointed out that the legislature has already considered bills to make the schools superintendent an appointed position and is not likely to give the governor more power. In the meantime, he said the governor should take charge.

"You can't say I want a perfect world to get my job done," he said.

Only one in 100 people know June Atkinson.

According to a survey last June by the N.C. Center for Voter Education, only 1 percent of people could identify the state superintendent of public instruction.

The group used the survey to push for public financing of those positions, but it's also instructive in light of today's debate about appointing the superintendent.

By contrast, 12 percent knew the state's commissioner of insurance, Jim Long.

The survey was done by AmericanViewPoint of 600 voters from June 12-13. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Rob Christensen says electing the schools superintendent is "democracy run amok."

In a 2000 column, the longtime N&O reporter wrote that North Carolina and North Dakota have the longest ballots in the country, electing a number of positions that are appointed in other states.

He argued that there are good reasons to elect the secretary of state, lieutenant governor and state auditor, but not the agriculture, labor and insurance commissioners or the superintendent of public instruction. Those positions, he said, should be appointed.

The only reason why the long ballot has worked traditionally is that governors and other party leaders handpicked Council of State candidates—often when an incumbent died. The party leaders knew who had the smarts and character for the job and who didn't.

He noted that the Brookings Institution recommended making the positions appointed in the 1930s, but Democratic state officials balked.

The full column after the jump.

North Carolina's schools superintendent is in the minority.

According to this chart from the Council of Chief State School Officers, only 14 state superintendents are elected, and only eight of them are partisan positions.

The nonpartisan superintendents serve in California, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. The partisan superintendents serve in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming.

In the other 36 states, chief school officers are appointed either by the governor or the state board of education. In a few cases, they are also confirmed by the legislature.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Orr has called for making North Carolina's superintendent an appointed, rather than elected, position. 

Eddie Davis says the schools superintendent should remain an elected post for now.

But the Democratic candidate for superintendent said he would be open to a wholesale reform of the education system that might include making it appointed.

"There needs to be a long discussion after the next election," he told Dome. "We're not in a position to talk about it while an election is ongoing, but I would certainly be willing to sit down and talk about it once I get elected."

Davis, who previously served on the State Board of Education, said he hopes Bob Orr's reform plan would spark an "overdue" discussion about state education policy.

He said that changes giving and taking back power to the superintendent in recent years have hurt the "checks and balances" intended in the state constitution.

"I am in favor of having that kind of dialogue," he said.